Twitter helps spread Russian propaganda, Telegram and Meta are no barrier to Russian disinformation - European Commission study

This was reported by BBCNews.

"Preliminary analysis shows that the reach and influence of Kremlin-backed accounts increased further in the first half of 2023, in part due to the abolition of Twitter's security standards," the nonprofit analytical group Reset said in an annual study.

Previously, the company sought to reduce the influence of Kremlin-linked accounts to minimize the reach of propaganda before Elon Musk became chairman of Twitter, which he later renamed X.

"We will no longer promote state media accounts or their tweets through our recommendation systems," Twitter said in 2020.

In April 2023, Elon Musk changed the company's policy and abandoned the previous restrictions.

In August, NATO's Center of Excellence for Strategic Communications also stated that Musk's reforms had led to a sharp increase in the Kremlin's "visibility" on Twitter.

In Europe, the law on digital services requires large companies to actively combat threats to the safety of children, electoral processes, harassment of people, etc. under the threat of heavy fines.

An EU study found that Twitter does not adhere to the values of fighting the spread of disinformation.

Telegram and Meta are also ineffective in combating disinformation

Accounts that are clearly supported by the Kremlin are not blocked, have at least 165 million followers, and were viewed at least 16 billion times in 2022.

"In absolute terms, pro-Kremlin accounts still reach the largest audience on Meta platforms. And the size of the audience of Kremlin accounts on Telegram has more than tripled," the study says.

• X (formerly Twitter) lifts the ban on paid political advertising, which was introduced in 2019 under the leadership of then-CEO Jack Dorsey